Nike made a legion of sneaker geeks’ dreams come true when they sent out their Back To The Future-themed invitations, but the official word has now come down from on high: the Nike Mag is real, and they’re all going on eBay tonight.
First things first: the Mags sadly don’t auto-lace. Aside from that, only subtle changes have been made from the original, film-friendly reference design, but it’s likely all for the sake of comfort. Retro-future aficionados will be glad to know that the tri-color, LA Gear-esque lights remain true to the original, as does the electroluminescent Nike logo embroidered on the side.
The limited-edition kicks will only be produced in a small 1,500 unit run, but hopefully that scarcity will up drive up demand a bit. While we normally enjoy a good deal around here, all of the proceeds will be going to the Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson’s Disease Research. Speaking of the fantastic Mr. Fox, he’s currently scheduled to make an appearance on The Late Show with David Letterman tonight — the timing seems almost too good to be true, so keep your eyes peeled for a surprise appearance.
This reveal has been a long time coming for Nike fans, who have obsessively been tracking the shoe from the grassroots campaign that inspired everything to its more recent appearances.
One of the first big clues to the shoe’s existence came from an EA Sports interview with Tinker Hatfield, one of Nike’s most prolific sneaker designers. At about 13 minutes into the video, an assistant tosses Hatfield the shoe just after the interview changes focus onto Nike’s future. Video of a commercial being filmed in the style of the original film’s classic mall parking lot scene also popped up on YouTube back in June, making today’s announcement the culmination of a whole lot of work.